


High School Doesn't Teach Romance; It Teaches Fighting Dirty

by SoloShikigami



Category: CyberSix, Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5227928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoloShikigami/pseuds/SoloShikigami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a world where CyberSix and Daredevil collide at The Villa Devato Academy!<br/>Matthew Murdock finds the new sophomore student, Adrian Seidelman very interesting, though in a different way than how Lucas Amato finds him interesting... Meanwhile, poor Adrian is just trying to figure out how his new world of interacting with people is supposed to work! Throw in trouble-making freshmen, intimidating seniors, and a biology professor that clearly took too many pages from a megalomaniac's handbook, the entire gang is in for a whirlwind year!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Getting Started

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right now, I'm taking mostly from the CyberSix animated series, though some bits will be taken from the comics, and I'm making a lot of assumptions about things that are not canonically mentioned. Also this is written during NaNoWriMo so there may be some editing needed, please ignore any glaring problems for now... Depending how many people really want this continued, I'll go back and fix stuff.
> 
> I should also tell you that when I say football, I mean soccer.

Adrian Seidelman looked up at the massive building a little nervously, pulling a bit at the collar of his navy blue and white school uniform. He had always been home schooled and was a quiet and introverted person. He had worried about whether or not he would be able to fit in this place.

Suddenly he found himself on the ground, his books scattered before him and his papers flitting to the concrete.

"Watch it, dweeb," a harsh voice sneered as a group of boys passed.

Adrian sighed. This was a perfect, if not clichéd, beginning.

"Hey, are you all right?"

A rather large and strong hand gripped his upper arm, not so much pulling him up but acting as a way to steady him as he got to his feet.

"Yes, I’m fine. Thank you."

Adrian turned to face the owner of the voice and found himself staring at a set of sparkling brown eyes from under a mop of unruly blond hair. The face grinned at him.

"First day with the new legs?" the young man quipped.

Adrian blinked. "What?"

The teen laughed. "Hey, it's a joke. Let me help you get your things."

As he and Adrian knelt down to pick up the papers and books, Adrian got a bit of a better look at him. The uniforms left a lot to the imagination, but this one wasn’t wearing the jacket and he had the sleeves of the crisp, white linen shirt rolled up, and judging by the fact that Adrian could see fairly defined muscle in his forearms, it was good reasoning that the rest of his body followed. He had a bit of a brutish look to him, but he smiled too easily and his eyes were too kind to be threatening.

"The name's Lucas, Lucas Amato," the young man said as they stood.

"Adrian Seidelman."

Lucas looked down at the book that was on top of the small pile that he had gathered.

"South American Poetry of the Early Twentieth Century?"

Adrian turned bright red and grabbed his things out of Lucas' hands. 

"Thank you for helping me, I must go," Adrian mumbled quickly before rushing up the steps.

"Weird guy," Lucas murmured before heading up the steps himself.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Adrian felt like he was caught up in a whirlwind; the principal was as visibly flustered as he felt, which didn't help ease Adrian's mind at all. He didn't have any time to go to his locker and all but missed first period because the principal failed to send someone with him and he got lost. He almost got lost going to his second class as well, and the only reason he found it was because he heard a few students mention the teachers' name and he was able to follow them to the classroom. There was a fifteen minute break between second and third period, and apparently after the first five minutes when the teachers finished taking attendance, the students could use the rest of the time to visit their lockers, get a quick snack, or sit in their classrooms to socialize.

Adrian immediately took advantage of the time to go to his locker; he hated being weighed down by all of his books and now there were two more from his first classes. He finally found his locker, but of course, he was having a hard time opening it.

"As if today couldn't get any worse," Adrian muttered after his third attempt at balancing his books and papers as he tried to turn the combination lock. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

"What's wrong, cutie pie?"

Adrian looked up to find a redhead girl smiling at him. He frowned at her a little, caused by a mixture of her too strong perfume and too much makeup.

"I seem to be having trouble with my locker," Adrian mumbled, backing away from the girl.

"Yeah, this row is a little tricky," the girl said, leaning forward to pull on the locker's latch while turning the combination knob. The door popped open and the girl hung on its corner with a satisfied smirk. Adrian was able to get a bit of a better look at her and noticed that she apparently didn't care for the school's dress code; her skirt was obviously hiked up past her knees when it was supposed to reach just below them, her jacket was tied around her waist, and the top three buttons of her shirt were undone and pulled back, and if she leaned over just right Adrian would know what color bra she was sporting that day.

"Thank you," Adrian murmured, dropping his pile into the locker.

"A pleasure," she purred again. "My name is Lori, what's yours, cutie?"

Adrian gave an inward shudder and frowned even more deeply at her. "Adrian."

"Adrian," Lori breathed. "That is such an intriguing name. What period do you have lunch?"

Adrian realized that she was leaning towards him, reaching out to touch him, and he found himself back peddling. He didn't know exactly what it was but he really didn't want this girl anywhere near him, much less touching him.

"Lori, leave the new kid alone," a voice said just before Adrian found himself bumping into someone and falling straight on his ass.

"Fuck off," Lori snarled, slamming Adrian's locker shut.

Adrian looked up and had to lean back a little to see who he had bumped into. A face with eyes covered by dark spectacles grinned down at him. He realized the boy was blind.

"Oh dear," Adrian murmured. "I'm sorry."

"No worries," the boy said.

"Yeah, he's used to it," said another teen coming up on his side and throwing an arm over the blind boy's shoulder to lean on him. 

"Don't you three have a loser convention to get to?" Lori said, crossing her arms.

"The slut convention comes first; don't you have a panel there that you're running?" said a thin girl with pin straight, long blonde hair that swept around her narrow hips.

"Go to hell, Karen."

"I'll save you a seat and tell your grandfather you're on your way."

Lori took a few threatening steps towards them. Adrian slid back a little, running into the feet of the blind boy who stood solidly and still. The one with shoulder-length, slightly curled hair looked at the blonde girl with disapproval.

"Fuck. You. Karen," Lori ground out. "Call me what you will, but you are a low down dirty bitch with no heart."

Karen just huffed at her, crossing her arms, and Lori stomped past them, being sure to knock her shoulder into the blonde girl.

"Karen, that was a dick move," said the boy with the long hair.

"Bite me."

"I believe someone is still lying on the ground. You both are being awfully rude," said the blind boy.

"Oh, right, sorry," the other boy walked to stand in front of Adrian and reached down with one hand. 

Adrian stared at the hand, then back up into the kind, grinning face, and decided that it could be trusted.

"Thank you," Adrian said as he stood.

"Anytime. You must be new here. I'm Foggy, that's Karen, and the blind one is my best buddy, Matt."

Matt smiled and held out a hand. Adrian slid his hand into his and was given a firm shake.

"Adrian," he murmured.

"You better be careful, it seems Lori has marked you," Karen said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah, she's a little obsessive. I'd invest in a bodyguard," Foggy said.

Adrian's mind immediately went to the blond boy who helped him earlier that morning and he mentally shook himself.

"She can't possibly be that bad," Adrian said, brushing dust from his backside.

"It depends," Matt said with a shrug.

The bell rang and the three of them swore.

"You know where you're going, newbie?" Foggy asked.

Adrian looked down for his schedule, and realized with a groan that he left it in his locker.

"Stuck locker syndrome?" Karen asked. Adrian nodded and she sighed and hooked her arm in Matt's. "I'll take Matt to class; Foggy, who do you have next?"

"Maldonado."

"I'll let him know you'll be late, and hopefully Mrs. Glenridge won't be too pissed at me. Later guys."

Matt gave them a small wave and the two disappeared into the crowd of students coming out of classrooms.

"Come on, let's get your locker," Foggy said. "The trick is to pull on the latch just as you're clicking the last number."

Adrian squint his eyes as he concentrated, and a moment later his locker was open. He quickly grabbed his notebook, which was a black spiraled one, a pen, his schedule, and his poetry book which he slid between the pages of his notebook.

"So what does your schedule say?" Foggy asked, rocking on his heels.

"Uhm... Looks like I have math."

Foggy leaned over a little to glance at the teachers' name. "Oh, man, you got Kelly."

"Is that a bad teacher?"

"Eh, not sure, I don't think she does anything horrible, but I had a hard time learning from her. She gives a lot of homework and she's really stingy on time."

Foggy started to walk and he took Adrian's arm gently as they waded through the crowd, mostly on habit of taking Matt's arm. Adrian was a little surprised that he didn't mind as he generally didn't like the idea of being touched.

"How is she stingy on time?"

"I think her tests need to take up the entire class time, they are long and difficult, but she gives you maybe twenty minutes and then gives you a massive amount of homework to start while she corrects the tests. One of the good things, though, is that the final is based on those tests and she is efficient at giving them back for you to study."

Adrian only nodded, feeling almost dizzy as Foggy lead him expertly through the crowd, making no particular contact with either of the other students. He wondered if he would ever be able to navigate with such precision.

"Here we are," Foggy said in a sing song voice. "Hey, couldn't help but notice you have lunch fifth period. Come find us in the cafeteria, we tend to be at a corner table, for Matt's sake."

Adrian was about to ask why, but then he remembered that Matt was blind and that it was probably a lot more comfortable for him to keep a wall at his back. So far, Adrian couldn't help but feel that this was a good thing at this school.

"Sure, if I can," Adrian accepted. "Thank you."

Foggy grinned at him again. "Cool. See you around, Adrian!"

Adrian gave him a wave as he departed and then steeled himself for his next class.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Math class was going to be his favorite, Adrian decided. The class appeared challenging and the teacher seemed to be more than happy to leave the students to their own devices. Adrian excelled at learning on his own. 

His next class was gym, and he was pleased with himself by the end of it; no one seemed to care that he went to change in the bathroom stalls and they were starting the school year with track activities. Adrian was a fair runner, having more endurance for long distance running than ability and strength for sprinting, but he held his own.

Apparently, sports teams held their practices during the day as well as after school, and the football team was practicing hard on the center of the field. Adrian slowed in his run only slightly to watch them in action. He wasn't sure what the appeal of the sport was after a few minutes of slowed running and refocused on his task.

He didn't know or see one of the players watching him, or that he was mercilessly tackled by his teammates.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Adrian looked around the cafeteria, thankful that there were at least signs pointing to it. He chewed his lower lip nervously as he realized that he very well may not be able to remember the new faces he just met. 

Then again, how many blind people went to this school?

"Adrian!" Foggy's voice shouted across the vast room.

Adrian felt embarrassed heat rise to his face as some of the students turned to Foggy only briefly before turning to him. Adrian took a deep breath and made his way into the corner where Foggy was waving and smiling like an idiot. Karen was mostly ignoring him, eating her sandwich, and giving Adrian a small smile and a finger wave as he approached. Matt smiled in his direction, which was a little unnerving. 

"How's your first day going?" Matt asked.

"It's okay, I think?" Adrian said slowly as he sat down.

"What's been the worst class so far?" Karen asked.

"I guess my first one; art class."

"Dude, art class is the easiest!" Foggy exclaimed.

"I can't draw a straight line, I mess up stick figures," Adrian murmured, pulling out a small plastic container that held his lunch. "It's just not something I excel at."

"What do you do best?" Matt asked.

"That's not your lunch, is it?" Foggy asked, leaning over almost too close to peer into the box as Adrian opened it.

"Yes?" Adrian replied almost hesitantly.

"That's a snack," Foggy wrinkled his nose. It was about a cup's worth of food.

"Not for me, I don't each much."

"No wonder you're so thin," Karen quipped.

"Well, not at all, really. At least for me; I was a typical, sickly kid when I was younger, though now I'm told I'm fairly strong, considering."

"Overcoming obstacles is something I can relate to," Matt murmured softly.

"Don't go all mopey on us," Foggy admonished him. "So Adrian, where did you live before here?"

"I've always lived here, it’s just that I have been home schooled. Like I said, I was a sick child, and I always felt too nervous to attend school."

"What changed your mind?" Karen asked.

Adrian blinked. He didn't anticipate having to talk about himself; he thought he would just be going to classes, sitting quietly in the corner so he would be ignored by his peers, and spend the three remaining high school years in anonymous bliss and go to college.

Apparently, that wasn't how high school worked.

What Adrian didn't know was that Matt could hear the change in his heartbeat, he could feel his legs shaking slightly under the table, and could almost smell the panic leaking off of him as a very fine sheen of sweat was brimming to break out over his skin. Clearly, Karen had unwittingly hit a nerve, and Matt knew that Adrian was being put in an awkward position.

Karen yelped as she jumped up.

"Karen, I'm so sorry," Matt said. He had knocked over his cup of ice water and sent it spilling in Karen's direction.

"No problem, it only got a little on my skirt, damn that's cold," she murmured. "A quick trip to the ladies room and I'll be fine."

Karen stood and swept out of the cafeteria. Foggy leaned in towards Matt so Adrian couldn't hear.

"You did that on purpose," Foggy whispered.

"Shut up and I will explain later," Matt muttered back before sensing that Adrian was looking at them. "I'm a little clumsy. I wasn't born blind, but it's been long enough in some senses."

"And you're still a god damned idiot in others," Foggy said.

Adrian took a few bites of his lunch, which was very simple; some Spanish rice with bits of chicken and vegetables mixed into it.

"I see why you warned me about the math teacher, Foggy," Adrian said. "Her teaching style will work for me, though. The tests will be challenging to be sure."

"Are you good at math?" Matt asked, remembering his earlier question to Adrian about what he was good at.

"Average, I'm sure. Literature is more what interests me," Adrian said, though shifted a little uncomfortably at the admission.

Matt was sure Foggy didn't pick up on Adrian's nervousness, but he did and decided Adrian was a mystery that he was going to figure out, but not right away.

"When do you have a lit class?" Matt asked.

"Next period, I think? European literature, if I'm not mistaken."

"That should be nice, since it's a class I'm sure you'll like."

"Hope so."

The rest of lunch period was mostly listening to Matt and Foggy banter with a few quips from Karen once she returned with her blue plaid skirt dried. Adrian happily listened, hiding small laughs behind his hand and finding himself enjoying the company. He stood to go get a drink of water, taking a step back as he asked his new friends (were they all friends now, he wondered) if he could get them anything, and he missed Matt's bark of 'look out!'

Adrian felt one of his feet slide out from under him, a surprised cry from him joined another voice a split second before he felt two strong hands grab him under his arms.

"Hey, careful, uhm, Adrian, wasn't it?" chuckled a strong, kind, and familiar voice.

Adrian felt like his heart skipped a beat as he craned his neck to find himself staring into those brown eyes and smiling face again.

"Yes," he confirmed.

Lucas laughed. "I remembered! I'm smarter than I look."

Adrian could feel his face heating up. "You can let go of me now."

"Oops," Lucas dropped his hands and looked away. "Sorry."

The bell rang, much to their relief.

"Uh, class," Adrian murmured awkwardly.

"Yeah... Hey, Murdock, need any help today?" Lucas looked up at Matt.

"Nah, Foggy and I have class together next, thanks though," Matt said, slowly standing.

"He's mine, Amato!" Foggy declared loudly, wrapping both arms possessively around one of Matt's arms. 

Karen and Lucas both laughed. Adrian stayed silent, glancing between the four of them like a confused child.

"I'll see you all around," he said, forcing a smile before bolting out of the cafeteria.

No one saw the frown that Matt gave to Adrian's departing figure.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone gets really mad at me about the exchange between Karen and Lori, they have a history and I promise it will be explained later... But Karen really is a bit of a bitch in my opinion, not as bad as I portrayed her, but again, there's a reason, I promise.


	2. This Day Just Got Interesting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian's first day at school continues, though the longer he's in school, the more interesting things become.

Adrian was thankful for his literature class as it gave him something familiar and comfortable for his mind to grasp on to instead of it wandering around and entertaining fantastical notions that seemed to involve his classmates. He didn’t understand what his mind was doing or why and it bothered him immensely.

One thing that did cause some concern for him was the reading list for that year. Half of the list he had already read, and while many of them he wouldn't mind reading again, there were some he would prefer to not repeat; anything by Steinbeck, for instance, was among his albeit short list of "never read again."

"Professor?" he approached the teacher after the bell rang.

"An issue already?" the professor said flatly.

"No, well, yes, a little," Adrian stammered. "I have read about half the books on this list."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, sir, I just wasn't sure if that would be a problem, or if there is something extra I can do when we get to those books?"

The teacher gave Adrian a stern, hard look that made the student take half a step back.

"I'll think of something, Mr. Seidelman. In the meantime, you will write me a five thousand word essay about the meaning of presumption and why it's inappropriate for a student to act so towards their teacher."

Adrian blinked. "I'm sorry, sir, I'm not intentionally trying to-"

"Little of what you children do is intentional, however you do it none the less and discipline is the only way you will learn. Now move off to your next class, young man. I don't want to see you until the beginning of your class period tomorrow with your essay in hand."

Adrian decided not to argue, mostly because he knew he had come across an unreasonable person and he didn't argue with unreasonable people. He turned away and walked out and tried to focus on getting to his next class and getting this day over with.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

"Hey, is this seat taken?"

Adrian looked up and part of his mind swore; why was he looking up and meeting eyes that did weird things to him on the inside? What the hell did this all mean?

"Uhm, no," he murmured quietly, not trusting himself to really say anything else or be anything but compliant.

Lucas slid into the seat easily and Adrian ignored the way his stomach started to churn uncomfortably. 

"How's your first day here going?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, just fine," Adrian murmured, suddenly finding his notebook incredibly interesting.

"Foggy mentioned this is your first time in, you know, a real school, and that you’ve been home-schooled your whole life. Is that true?"

"Uh, yes, that’s all true; I was sick a lot as a kid and it didn't make sense for me to be in school."

"But you're better now?" Lucas looked and sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yes, thank you," Adrian shifted unconsciously.

Lucas picked up on it, especially since he had been trying to look at Adrian's face the whole time and noticed he wasn't looking up either.

"Are you all right? Am I asking too many questions?"

"I'm fine, yeah, it's just," he stopped and looked over at Lucas with a slightly odd look. "I guess I never had anyone ask me anything before."

"Ah, right, no social interaction. I talk a lot and ask a lot of questions, so if I irritate you, just say so," Lucas smiled warmly at him. "How about you start asking me the questions, then? We should get to know each other if we’re going to be classmates."

Adrian blinked at him, opening his mouth to start but then snapped shut when he realized that he didn't have anything to say. At least, nothing appropriate; Adrian figured that starting a new conversation and friendship with ‘what are these things I feel every time I see you and why does it annoy me so much?!’ would not work out very well.

Thankfully the teacher came in, however, the way he slammed the door caught everyone's attention.

The teacher was a severe looking one; long, thin, pointed nose, a monocle was placed over one eye, a sweep of hair neatly covered the other.

"I am Dr. Von Reichter," he announced. "Here in my class you will be learning biology. I do not play games, I do not give extra credit, I do not accept excuses. I expect you all to arrive on time, have your books out and open and notebooks and pens at the ready. I do not repeat myself so take notes carefully and-"

A pair of girls sitting near the front were whispering and one of them giggled. Von Reichter pulled a riding crop from behind his desk and slammed it on the table between the two girls, which made them both shriek loudly in surprise.

"I expect you to pay attention!" he screamed.

All of the students were taken aback by the outburst and many of them sat up a little straighter. 

All of the students, that is, with one exception. One student in the front of the class chuckled, a little too loudly, and while he was hiding his mouth with his hand, anyone could tell it was a token gesture.

"That's enough, José," Von Reichter murmured, dragging the edge of the crop along the table as he walked away.

Adrian shifted quietly in his seat; this teacher rubbed him the wrong way, a really, _really_ wrong way, and he already knew that he was going to hate this class and the subject wasn't the reason.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

When the bell rang, Adrian almost flew out of the classroom, ducking behind his fellow classmates to avoid Von Reichters' attention. He rushed down the hallway, scurrying around the corner before slamming his back into the brick with a gasp.

_'I'm shaking; why am I shaking?'_ Adrian wondered, gripping his books tightly to his chest, glancing around and hoping he wasn't drawing too much attention to himself. A glance around at the teenagers flooding the hall, talking and laughing and calling out to one another gave him the answer he was hoping for.

Adrian was having a full-blown panic attack, not realizing that he had been in a state of panic for the entire class and now he was going into a minor state of shock.

"Adrian?"

He gasped and looked up at Lucas towering over him with a concerned look. Again with the looking up! Also, why did Lucas look so much taller? Was his misjudging his height this entire time?

"Lucas," he murmured.

Lucas blinked down at him. "Are you all right? What are you doing on the floor?"

Oh, so that's why Lucas looked a lot taller than Adrian remembered. He went to stand but his legs shook too much. He also missed the look Lucas gave him when his face went completely white.

"Hey, easy," Lucas said, kneeling next to him.

"I'm okay," Adrian said, his voice shaking a little as he tried to stand again but ended with not only failure, but Lucas pushing him back down.

"You're not okay," Lucas said firmly. "Relax for a minute; you can be late to class."

"Lucas! Hey- Lucas? Hey, what's going on?"

Adrian could feel his face heat up in embarrassment as Foggy nearly dragged Matt over.

"Adrian's sitting on the ground against the wall, Lucas is sitting in front of him," Foggy described as they came closer.

"Are you all right?" Matt asked with a frown, but it took him a second to look downwards in their general direction.

Of course Matt could feel Adrian's heart thumping, erratic and too fast. Something had scared Adrian immensely; so much the poor kid was borderline going into cardiac arrest. Well, maybe saying a fifteen year old was having a literal heart attack was being too dramatic, Matt knew it was bad but not quite that bad, but it was keeping Adrian down on the ground.

"What's wrong? Is he sick?" Foggy asked, turning to Lucas.

"Dunno," Lucas murmured, raising his wrist and setting it on Adrian's forehead.

Adrian squeezed his eyes shut as if he expected it to hurt, then he flinched at the soft touch of Lucas's skin over his brow, holding his breath, but he wasn't sure why.

Matt picked up on the reactions he was certain Adrian didn't even know he was having; his heart regulated a little, but was still beating fast - Matt suspected for an entirely different reason now - and when Lucas pulled away with a shake of his head he could tell the breath Adrian let out was that of a sigh and a small hint of a noise one would make when something they wanted (and badly) was being taken away from them.

Matt really had to control himself to keep from chuckling or smiling.

"He doesn’t have a fever, so that's good," Lucas murmured. "Think we should take him to the infirmary?"

"Yeah," Foggy agreed, moving to Adrian's side, ready to take his arm and help him to his feet. 

"No," Adrian said, bracing his hands on the floor and somewhat keeping Foggy or Lucas from touching him. "No, no, I'm okay."

“Come on, Adrian, something is definitely wrong,” Foggy said.

“I don’t need the nurse,” Adrian said with a scowl, using the wall to push himself onto his feet.

“Don’t be weird,” Lucas chastised, reaching out to take his arm.

“I said no!” Adrian swatted at him, finally fully on his feet again. He took a deep breath and pushed off the wall, showing he was capable of standing on his own. “See? I’m fine.”

Foggy glanced over to Matt, knowing his friend was analyzing Adrian, but the bell rang before anything else could be said.

“You should go to the nurse to get a pass on being late at least,” Matt murmured.

“I will appeal on the ‘I’m a new kid, please go easy on me,’ excuse. I’m sure I can use that one for this week, at least,” Adrian said, glancing down he realized his books were still on the ground and he bent to retrieve them. “See? I’m fine, except for the guilt I now have because I made all three of you late for your next class.”

Adrian frowned deeply at all of them.

“He is giving all of us the super frown, a borderline pouting look,” Foggy supplied for Matt.

“Thank you, Foggy,” Matt said with a small laugh. 

Now Adrian flat out scowled. “I’m not pouting.”

“Not anymore, you’re not,” Foggy quipped. "I think we call that a scowl."

“Why don’t you two go on ahead? I’ll take Adrian to his next class.”

“No offense, Murdock, but isn’t that sort of the blind leading the blind?” Lucas asked. “How are you going to get to your class once you drop off Adrian?”

“I’m blind, but not completely helpless, Amato,” Matt said, reaching behind him in his backpack’s side pocket to pull out a white and red walking stick that was currently folded. “It’s just not a great idea to use this where I could accidentally trip someone or hit someone’s ankles.”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Foggy said with a grin. “Come on, Lucas, we don’t get the ‘I’m the new kid’ excuse or the ‘I’m blind’ excuse.”

“Don’t you get the ‘I’m a wacko,’ excuse?” Lucas said, nudging Foggy’s shoulder with his elbow.

“Only if you have the ‘Because I’m a dumb jock’ excuse,” Foggy said, nudging him back.

Lucas sighed. “You play more than one school sport...”

“Beat it, you two,” Matt said, putting his stick together.

“Okay Mama Murdock,” Foggy teased. “Adrian, seriously, don’t do anything stupid, all right? Not sure if you’ve gotten this through that mop of black hair you got going, but we’re here to help. You have friends, now.”

Adrian couldn’t help but blink at Foggy blankly. “You hardly know me, Foggy.”

Foggy nodded. “Yup, and that’s how the best of friendships start. Come on, Amato.”

“Right behind you,” Lucas looked at Adrian, worry in his eyes for a split second, before he grinned at him. “Don’t get lost, now.”

“Move it!” Matt scolded, using his stick to smack Lucas on the back of his shoe.

Foggy and Lucas laughed and took off down the hall.

“Wait, what class _do_ I have next?” 

“What period is it?”

“Where’s my schedule?”

“I hate new school terms.”

The two chatted as they rounded the corner. Matt sighed, shaking his head, though he smiled. He looked up and turned towards Adrian, flashing his trademark grin at him.

“Please tell me that you are much more together than those two goofballs.”

He couldn’t help a slight smirk when he felt Adrian’s heart skip a beat again. The new kid was becoming more and more interesting by the moment.

“I would hope so,” Adrian said, standing up a little straighter.

“Where is your next class?” Matt asked.

“Hmm,” Adrian pulled up the notebook where he had taped his schedule to the back. “My schedule says I’m in Room 1125.”

“Language class?”

“Yeah.”

“What language?”

“Latin.”

“Yikes. I can barely handle Spanish. What in the world are you learning Latin for?”

“Oh, I’m taking Spanish, too. I’m already fluent in Portuguese and German.”

“Why are you learning all of these languages?”

“Portuguese came with the, erm, family territory,” Adrian looked away, forgetting that Matt wouldn't be able to see the slight hurt in his eyes. “I got into German because I like German poetry.”

“I see,” Matt decided to not pry about Adrian’s family; the small stutter of his heart was enough to tell him that it was not a subject that he was willing to discuss.

Matt took Adrian's arm and felt him tense.

"What-?" Adrian started.

"This is part of how I get around," Matt explained, which made Adrian relax only a little, but he didn't pull away either. "Okay, move towards the cafeteria; the language hall is nearby it."

Adrian started to move and he was a little amazed by how smoothly Matt came along; there was no pull at his arm, their feet didn't clash, there was no awkward adjustment in either of their paces, it was as if Matt were a natural extension of himself.

"So, if I remember correctly, you mentioned earlier that you weren't born blind. If you don't mind me asking you, what happened?" Adrian asked.

"I don't mind," Matt said cheerfully. "There was a car accident, chemicals were spilled, and I was caught in the middle. I was nine years old."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Adrian murmured.

Matt gave a shrug. "What's passed is past, not much I can do about it now besides live my life to the best of my abilities."

"What do you intend to do?"

"How do you mean?"

"After high school."

"Oh, yeah, Foggy and I are going into law together. We both want to be involved in criminal law, convict the bad guys and what have you."

Adrian nodded slowly. "Fight the good fight, eh?"

"Something like that."

They were silent until they rounded the cafeteria.

"Since you asked me a personal question, would you be so kind as to answer one for me?" Matt asked.

"I guess that is only fair," Adrian said, though his quickening pulse told Matt he was afraid of what he was about to be asked.

Matt decided to go easy on him for now; he did just meet the kid after all.

"Are you gay?"

Adrian nearly tripped over his own feet; Matt gripped his arm tighter to keep him from falling and taking him with him.

"That _is_ personal," Adrian murmured.

"Would it be so much so if I asked you if you were straight?"

"Well, yes, I think so at any rate."

"Not a bad answer. I ask because I know a few people very close to me who are and I am always wary of new kids," Matt gripped Adrian's arm even tighter, almost in a threatening way. "I am very protective of the people I love, Adrian. My friends here are also my family."

Adrian smiled and nodded. Matt eased his grip as Adrian's heart slowed to a normal rhythm, though Adrian took no notice of the fact that Matt couldn’t see him nod and therefore have no real reason to relax his grip just yet.

"You have nothing to fear from me, Matt," Adrian said gently. "I judge people by their actions, not their chosen labels."

"Good to know, but you didn't really answer my question. By the way, turn left down the next hall, that's the language wing."

Adrian followed the direction, not bothering to ask or even wonder how Matt knew where exactly they were.

"I don't know," Adrian murmured after a moment. "Frankly, I've never interacted with too many people before, and I honestly don't see myself being affected by others in a romantic sense."

'You are such a liar. Why are you lying?' Matt wondered. Another intriguing aspect was that, at least for the moment, Adrian believed it.

"Your room should be the third to the right, I think?" Matt said.

"Looks to be. Thank you, Matt. Are you sure you can get to your class without some help? I'm sure the teacher wouldn't mind."

"I'll be fine, I've walked these halls alone before," Matt said with a grin, and Adrian found his eyes glued to that grin. "Get going though, you're late enough as it is."

Adrian nodded, turned and put his hand on the handle of the door and hesitated.

"I nodded, by the way," he murmured, realizing that Matt wouldn't know he nodded without saying so.

Matt chuckled. "Move it, Seidelman."

Adrian nodded again and went into the classroom.

Matt waited a moment, making sure Adrian was in the right room, listening to him explaining his tardiness to the teacher, who seemed to accept his new student status and had him sit. Matt smiled and turned around and started for his own classroom.

"What's up, Matt?"

"Foggy, you're supposed to be in class."

"So are you."

"Study hall."

"Whatever. You're still supposed to be there."

Matt and Foggy shared a smile before they linked arms and wandered the hallway.

"So, what's going on? You don't usually take so much interest in a new student."

"Jealousy doesn't suit you, Foggy."

"Shut up, I'm not jealous, I just know you and you tend to bite off more than you can chew. I'm not an idiot, Matt."

"Nah, you just like to pretend to be one."

"I made it this far, why stop now," Foggy grinned and Matt didn't need to be told. "But still, I was paying attention and just by how you act I know something is up with Adrian."

"There is something really odd about him, and while I have a few suspicions it is way too early to tell anything for sure."

"Like what?"

"I said it's too early, and my suspicions are probably off. Did Lucas say anything?"

"I asked him what happened and all I really got was that they had science with Von Reichter."

Matt stopped in his tracks, Foggy pulling on his arm slightly until he stopped. He turned to look at Matt, who worried at his lower lip.

"I've never liked that one," Matt said quietly.

"Apparently he has a kid in the school now," Foggy said quietly. "Lucas said his name is Josè."

Matt sighed. "Great," he shuddered. "God only knows what kind of woman would breed with that thing."

"No kidding. But even Hitler had a wife, so, yeah."

"So, Adrian has class with the neo-nazi, has a panic attack, but pushes off any help. No real explanation, or cause, it's just," Matt sighed. "It's all just strange."

"Maybe he's just prideful," Foggy suggested, reaching up to smack at a banner they passed under that urged students to join the school's drama club for the play that year, which was to be Roger's and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music."

"That was for certain," Matt murmured.

They came to a common area where there were places to sit and Foggy brought Matt over to a window and they sat down. Foggy looked outside at the clear blue sky.

"The sky is really clear today," he murmured.

"Probably pretty warm out there, too," Matt murmured in reply, feeling the small ray of sunlight through the window on his back.

Foggy just hummed in return and they were silent for a few minutes.

"Hey, Matt?"

"Yeah, Foggy?"

"Don't do anything stupid, all right?"

"You know me."

"Exactly."

"You know I'll do what's right."

"Right and smart aren't mutually exclusive."

"Foggy."

"I know, I know," Foggy looked over at Matt with a small smile, reaching over and running his hand through Matt's hair. "I love you, man."

"I love you, too."


	3. Recreating An Episode

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a spin on CyberSix's first episode but with quite a different ending. Not so much from the Daredevil crew this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'm writing this story during NaNoWriMo, there's a lot of extraneous words, probably horrible grammar, and I think I may still have a spelling mistake or five, but those I tend to avoid. Will likely edit this later on, but the more time I spend on this the less time I have to write, so, please bear with me!

"Hey, Adrian!"

Adrian couldn't help the slight cringe at the sound of his name and he knew it didn't matter who was saying it. What turned the cringe into an uneasy and dreadful feeling was due to the voice belonging to Lori. The redhead had somehow hiked up and pulled down her uniform to expose herself even further than he had seen that morning. She was covered in a cloud of perfume that made his head spin.

Lori threw her arms around Adrian's shoulders.

"So, how was your first day, Adrian?" she asked, her tone almost sickeningly sweet.

"Uh, it was okay, I guess, Adrian replied slowly.” I have a lot of homework to do, so I guess I better get home."

"You look like such a smart cookie," Lori crooned, dragging her finger down his cheek. "Maybe you could give me a private tutoring session."

"Look, Lori, right?"

"And you remember my name!"

"That would be a yes," he muttered before clearing his throat and standing up a little straighter. "Lori, I can't help but think that your idea of tutoring and my idea of tutoring are vastly different."

Lori pressed closer, her lips centimeters from his ear. "I could show you what my idea of tutoring is, and in great detail."

Something about the words bothered Adrian deeper than he could have imagined and he pushed Lori away harder than he intended. The girl nearly went flying and fell flat on her behind with a cry.

"Stay away from me," Adrian growled at her. She looked up at him, heartbroken, and it made him hesitate. "Just... Stay away from me."

With that, Adrian ran off as Lori's gang surrounded her and helped her to her feet.

"What the hell was that about?"

"Who the hell does he think he is?"

"I'm gonna kick his sorry ass!"

"No one pulls that shit on our queen!"

Lori huffed, shoving them all away. "Would you assholes get a reality check?" she said as she scowled at them. "Go... Take a long walk off a short pier or something."

Lori left them, angry and upset and her male entourage watched her departing form. One of them cracked his knuckles and turned in the direction Adrian walked off in.

"No one disrespects our queen," he grumbled. "Let's go teach that fruit a lesson."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

Lucas was coming around the corner of the campus and watched most of the scene; mostly he saw Lori as she all but wrapped herself around Adrian and it was at that point that he found himself feeling disappointed, but he didn't quite know why. He thought about it for a little bit; was he disappointed that Adrian was falling for a girl like Lori and that Lori had claimed another victim? Was he disappointed that Adrian wouldn't go for someone like him?

Lucas startled a bit at that last thought, because he had been fairly certain that he didn't get hot for other guys. There had been one or two, but he fancied himself a straight guy for the most part. Perhaps he had been wrong about himself?

Possible, he thought, but unlikely.

When he looked up again, he saw Lori on the ground, Adrian walking away, and Lori's groupies had her surrounded. He felt a slight bit of schadenfreude as Lori walked off in an angry huff, but then it was quickly replaced with worry as he watched some of her gang as they moved threateningly in Adrian's direction.

"I don't fucking think so," Lucas growled, balling his fists and following, but not too closely, behind.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

Adrian didn't have any idea that he was being followed. Once he had left campus he had pulled out the little poetry book that he brought with him and was reading as he walked. He was unwittingly passing an alley that he didn't intend on ever heading down, and he ended up not only in the alley but lying face down in a puddle with four boys attacking him. Adrian curled into himself, his arms over his face and protecting his head. While the boys beating him expected that he was pulling the protective fetal position out of fear and an inability to fight back, Adrian was wondering if and when he would get an opening to get up and serve these bullies their just desserts.

"Hey!" a voice shouted down the alleyway.

The kicks immediately stopped.

"What the fuck do you want, Amato?"

Adrian froze; Amato? As in Lucas Amato?!? Why did it have to be him?!

"Fuck off, jock, before we mess you up, too."

"Mind you own goddamned business," another bully sneered at him.

The bullies all turned their attention to Lucas and Adrian took a moment to look through his fingers and up a little and sure enough, there was Lucas standing at the end of the alleyway with his hands clenched and he looked ready for a fight. Adrian glanced at the bullies; there were five of them (one must have been keeping a lookout), and he wasn't sure if Lucas could take them all. He glanced over at the nearest one and planned to grab his ankles and at least attempt take of them out of the equation.

"Do either of you boys want to explain what you're doing in an alleyway?"

They all turned around or looked up to find a man who towered over Lucas. He wore brown pants and a navy blue pullover, he had dark eyes, dark hair, and an impressive mustache. His hands rested on his hips and he glared at every single one of them. Adrian was sure the man was even glaring down at him.

"No reason, detective," one of the bullies said.

"Then get out of there and get the hell home and do your schoolwork," he growled.

Lucas was pushed aside as the bullies high-tailed it out of the alley. Lucas looked after them and then turned to Adrian, who slowly started to get up.

"Adrian, are you all right?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, all they did was push me on the ground," Adrian said, getting to his feet and brushing off what he could of his partially soaked uniform.

"What were you doing in an alley?" the detective said as he glared at them.

"It wasn't my intention, sir," Adrian explained. "I was reading my book one minute and suddenly I was here."

The detective glanced down at the pile of books and notebooks right outside the alley. He bent down and picked them up.

"Your parents never told you that you should look where you are going?" he thrust the books into Adrian's hands.

Adrian bit back a scowl and just looked at the ground. "Yes, sir."

"You two stay out of trouble."

The detective left after giving them both a sharp nod and final glare. Lucas and Adrian followed him out of the alley and waited until he walked down the street before Lucas sighed and turned to Adrian.

"No, really, are you all right?" Lucas asked.

"I'm _fine_!" Adrian exclaimed. "What is with you people? Will everyone just leave me alone?!"

Before Lucas could even blink in surprise, Adrian had run off. Lucas went to call out but Adrian moved fast and was far down the block. He sighed and turned around and began to head for his own home.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

Adrian slammed the door to his tiny apartment, nearly throwing his books aside before tearing off his wet jacket and collapsing in his thin, creaky, pathetic excuse for a bed. He grabbed the worn-down pillow and went to scream in it, but he found he didn't have the energy. He lifted a hand to punch it, but his hand just dropped uselessly. He rolled onto his side with a sigh. Glancing up, his eyes fell on a picture that was hung on the little strip of wall next to his bed.

The picture was of a man of African descent holding onto Adrian, who was quite little and couldn't be more than five at the time. This was Adrian's father, or at the very least the only man he knew to be a father. Adrian never knew what happened to his real parents, mostly because he didn't think to ask and it was too late now.

"I wish you were here, papi," Adrian murmured. "There are so many confusing things that happened today. I know you could explain it all," Adrian reached out and brushed his fingers over the familiar face. "Maybe going to school was a bad idea. I know you wanted me to be educated, but at what cost? I don't know if I can even concentrate with all of these distractions. I think I made some friends, though? So that's good, I guess?"

Adrian sighed and rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling, which was covered in extremely pale and extremely old and peeling blue paint.

He didn't know what he was going to do and he didn't know how to feel. Lucas threw his head into a loop for certain, because what was this weird thing that happened to him when Lucas was around? Why in the world did his heart speed up; Lucas was certainly no threat despite his size and what Adrian could tell of his strength, but he knew it was nothing compared to his own. Lucas was also very friendly and Adrian doubted that he was capable of lying, much less lying so well he had everyone fooled.

Adrian sat up and turned to put his feet on the ground before lifting his hands to stare at his palms. Adrian knew his slight form was deceiving; while he may have looked the part of a stereotypical nerd and knew it was also a part that he had to play, underneath was hidden strength beyond human capacity.

He stood and wandered over to the one window he had in his sorry excuse for a living space and pulled the blind down. He shuffled over to his desk and turned on the lamp and then began shedding his clothes.

Under the uniform shirt, a strip of tight elastic and cotton around his chest held one of his many secrets. Adrian pulled at it a little, looking underneath it.

“I’m starting to wonder if I really need this thing,” Adrian murmured, his voice a little lighter than normal. “It’s not like I have all that much to suppress.”

Adrian sighed, taking the binding off and the pants and putting on a pair of pajamas. He caught himself in the mirror one last time as one sleeve of the pajama top was caught on his elbow, the burned letters in the skin of his forearm that read **_CYBERSIX_** could easily be seen and with a glare at his own reflection, he yanked the sleeve down.


	4. Wherein Matt and Foggy have a Conversation... And Adrian Discovers the Drawback of Schoowork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foggy has a meaningful conversation with Matt and Adrian falls asleep at his desk.

Matt nearly stumbled back into the window; he was so tired, he knew he had stayed out way too late and it wasn’t the first time that week.

“You gotta knock it off, Matt,” Foggy grumbled. “I’m losing some serious beauty sleep over your crap.”  


Matt gave up trying to be quiet and just collapsed inside. Foggy sat straight up and all but leaped out of his bed and was at Matt’s side in half of a second, helping him back to his feet.  


“Jesus, Matt, what the hell happened this time? Please don’t tell me you got yourself beaten up again,” Foggy said with a sigh.  


“No, no, just a bit sore, and really, really tired,” he sighed, leaning into Foggy a little, accepting his help.  


Foggy sighs and pushes his best friend towards his bed. “Do you need me to undress you again?”  


Matt scoffed and shoved him away. “When did I ever need you to undress me?”  


“Once or twice,” Foggy said with a slight shrug. “Considering we shared a playpen and a changing table at one point, you don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.”  


“I don’t even let doctors see me naked,” Matt grumbled.  


“You have no right being all grumbly at me,” Foggy sighed and sat on the edge of his bed. “Okay, in all seriousness and without any of my amazing flirting, do you need help?”  


Matt laughed a little. “No, Foggy, I’m all right. Thank you.”  


Foggy waited quietly and patiently, his only clues were the shuffling of clothing and the rustling of sheets. In moments like this, Foggy wondered if this was what it was like for Matt, minus the super powered senses. The dorm rooms were incredibly dark at night; all of the lights on campus turned off promptly at eleven o’clock. The only light that they could possibly get came from the stars and whatever kind of moon was out that night. There wasn’t one tonight, and even though Foggy’s eyes eventually grew accustomed enough in the dark to see the dark shape that was Matt’s body moving around, there were no details; for example, he didn’t know Matt had his pajamas on until he heard him sigh with a tired satisfaction as he flopped onto his pillow.  


“So what happened this evening?” Foggy asked quietly.  


“Aw, come on Fog, let me sleep,” Matt groaned.  


Foggy turned to lie down. “Hey, I lost sleep over you. The least you could do is tell me a good bedtime story.”  


The soft laughter that rumbled from Matt’s chest made Foggy smile; not only was the sound welcome to his ears but it meant he was getting his way.  


Again.  


“Well, to be honest, I don’t know if it will make all that great of a story,” Matt admitted. “Most of it was chasing some asshole who thought it would be fun to rob a convenience store at knifepoint.”  


"You risked your life for a convenience store?"  


"There was a little kid in there; the store owner has a ten year old son."  


"What the hell kind of parent keeps their ten year old around this late at night?"  


"The kind that doesn't have someone at home to watch him, so he sits behind the counter and does his homework or reads or something, I'm not sure, I just know that's the store I go to because it's open this time of night and I can get a soda for like, seventy-five cents. The guy doesn't even charge me tax."  


"You go walking up in there with your mask and bodysuit on?"  


"No, dummy, I have a t-shirt and some spare glasses stashed."  


"But then he knows you're blind."  


"Yeah, he does. He thinks I'm homeless, he tries to give me what I want for free, I always refuse and asked him to have respect for my pride. I told him that I work hard for what little money I had."  


"He actually bought that crap?"  


"Not sure. He takes my money, though I do wonder if everyone pays seventy five cents for a can of soda."  


"Still don't know if that justifies you risking your life, Matt," Foggy shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Matt coming back seriously injured, or worse, not at all.  


"He didn't have a gun and knives are easy for me to avoid," Matt assured him.  


Foggy stayed silent. Matt could hear the quick rise and fall of his heartbeat, meaning that he was going over many worst case scenarios in his mind.  


"Hey, Foggy," Matt murmured after a moment.  


"Yeah?" Foggy murmured back.  


"I don't plan on going anywhere soon."  


Foggy scoffed. "That may be too damn bad considering we'll have to figure out how we're going to get through a school day with no sleep."  


"Nothing we haven't done before," Matt said with a smile.  


Foggy's chuckle was his reward. "Go to sleep, you loon."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Adrian awoke with a bit of a startle, and groaned when he felt the muscles in his back twinge in protest as he sat up. He had fallen asleep at his desk, the essay given to him by his literature teacher partially done in front of him, though his last sentence trailed off unintelligibly. He at least had the foresight to tick off his word count every few paragraphs, so a glance a few lines up revealed that he had about three thousand, two hundred and fifty four words written.  


"A little more than a thousand and seven hundred or so more," Adrian murmured, trying to calculate the numbers in his head quickly.  


A glance over to the clock he had hanging in what passed as his kitchen - which was little more than a tiny refrigerator, a hot plate sitting on top of a cabinet and a shelf above that - showed that it was about five fifteen in the morning. He sighed and stretched and stood up.  


"Might as well make some coffee," he muttered as he shuffled into the kitchen.  


While he waited for the coffee to brew, he glanced over his essay. He knew a lot of the essay was mostly bullshit, but then again, so was the assignment for the most part. Five thousand words was not easy to do handwritten, and handwritten and legible to top it off with, and again the whole reason for the assignment was to teach Adrian a lesson. He was sure it had more to do with wasting Adrian's time than anything else, much less add on any sort of actual lesson, but it was what it was.  


With a fresh cup of coffee in his hands, Adrian sat and resumed the essay, figuring he should be able to get another few hundred words down before he had to get ready for school, and then perhaps he could finish the essay at lunch time. That is, he thought to himself wryly, if Foggy and Matt and Lucas wouldn't distract him. Maybe he should look for a quiet spot instead, it wasn't like he really needed to eat lunch anyway. Despite that reality, as it was a routine he had gotten himself into, when it was time to get ready for school Adrian still packed himself a lunch, dressed in the uniform once he had his binder in place, gathered up his books and papers and was out the door, bracing himself for another day.


	5. Cookies and Advanced Placement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Julian!  
> Also, cookies can solve many problems, but perhaps not court cases.

"Hey, what's wrong, big bro?" Julian asked, swinging from the pull up bar by his knees. "You look real messed up about something." 

"Hm? No, just tired is all," Lucas muttered, glancing at Julian out of the corner of his eye. "And get off of there, you're going to ruin your uniform again." 

Julian swung a little, gathering momentum so when he straightened his legs, he could twist himself so that he landed on his feet. Most people would flinch at the very least because Julian had made it a habit to make it look like he would fall on his head if not flat on his face. However, it was but one of many of Julian's wiles that Lucas had long since become immune to and the action barely make him blink much less worry. The energy he had for worrying was placed elsewhere. 

"You, Lucas, are a dirty, dirty liar," Julian said, putting his hands on his hips. 

"No, really, I'm just tired, I swear," Lucas said. 

"Uh huh, well, I was referring to your claim that I was going to ruin my pants, but while we're on the subject now, you mind telling me what's really going on?" 

Lucas scowled at him. He had only known Julian for a few years. He met him through a volunteering program he joined when he was in junior high school when he along with some other class mates tutored underprivileged kids. Julian was an orphan then, and since had been adopted but maintained a lot of the independence an orphan living on the streets tended to have. Julian wasn't stupid, though, Lucas had found that he was actually very intelligent and not just in street smarts. Julian always wanted to learn as long as he felt (or was convinced) that what he was learning was actually important. History tended to be his biggest downfall as he had yet come across anyone who could convince him what good it would do him. 

"I saw you with that new kid a few times yesterday," Julian continued, folding his hands behind his head and rocking on his heels with a grin. "You got a crush on him or something?" 

Lucas scoffed. "No. Well, maybe? I don't know, I like the guy for some reason. He's a little weird but I like that." 

Julian blinked. "Lucas, I'm sorry man, I didn't know you were gay." 

"I'm not. I don't think? Hey, wait, now come on, I just said that I like him, not that I'm in love with him. I barely know him!" Lucas said, flustered and blushing a little. 

"Hmm, sounds like you could be a heteroflexible pansexual." 

Lucas blinked at him. "Julian, I know that you're pretty smart and everything, but do you have any idea what you just said?" 

"Of course I do!" 

"I think you're full of shit." 

"Humph. Fine, big guy, it's up to you. No need for me to tell you where your sexuality lies." 

Lucas frowned at him. "I've got nearly two years on you." 

"Yeah and there are forty year old virgins. Age does not necessarily equal sexual experience." 

Lucas rubbed his eyes. "Why the hell am I talking to you about this?" 

"I dunno, I guess I'm sort of conning you into it. Jesus, Lucas, after all this time? You still let a kid get to you this easily?" 

Julian smirked at him. Lucas laughed back and stood and grabbed Julian to put him in a headlock. 

"All right you pain in the ass," Lucas grumbled good naturedly as he gave Julian a noogie despite Julian's loud protests and giggles. "What have I told you about conning people?" 

"Do it early and do it often?" Julian said with a grin. 

Lucas shook his head and let Julian go. 

"Come on, smart ass," Lucas said, shouldering his backpack. 

Julian smiled and grabbed his own school bag, watching Lucas walking for a moment before happily following him towards the school. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Adrian was able to squeeze in the rest of his essay before lunch time and was surprised he was able to get through the first half of his day without interacting with his new acquaintances. When lunch time came about, he still wondered if he would be better suited finding a quiet place to spend his lunch period when he soon had his choice taken from him. 

"Hello, Adrian!" Karen greeted him politely. 

"Hello, Karen," he said with a nod. 

"Forget where the cafeteria is already?" she asked with a tilt of her head and amusement sparkling in her eyes. 

"Uh, yes, I mean, no, well," Adrian glanced around a bit. "I was thinking of maybe going to the library for lunch." 

"You can't eat in there," she informed him. "Come on, you can go to the library after you eat." 

She started walking and Adrian sighed inwardly before he followed, not wanting to be rude or act out of the ordinary. 

"So I heard Lori assaulted you after school," Karen said quietly. "Are you all right?" 

"She didn't hurt me, some of her friends tried to," Adrian admitted. "She is incredibly misguided in her feelings and apparently isn't used to being told no as an answer." 

"Nope, she isn't," Karen said with a huff of a sigh. "I'm surprised the little slut hasn't been expelled." 

"Karen, I know that I'm new and I definitely don't know any of you very well, so perhaps you wouldn't mind enlightening me on why you and Lori don't get along?" Adrian asked. "All of you seem so friendly, it feels out of place." 

Karen nodded slowly as her pace slowed a bit. "That's fair. Just about everyone in the school knows so I guess you should know, too. You also need to hear the story from the right people." 

Karen paused for a moment in her speaking, glancing over at Adrian briefly, and Adrian nodded to her to indicate that he was listening. 

"Lori's family are real estate people of some kind, to be perfectly honest I don't know too many details but what I do know is more than enough. I used to live in a section of the city that was called Hell's Kitchen. It's mostly condemned now but that's part of the problem. Lori's grandfather owned one of the blocks in Hell's Kitchen and I lived on that block. When I was nine years old, her grandfather tried to force everyone out of their homes because he wanted to remodel the entire block into million dollar condominiums. When forcing us wouldn't work, he started looking into more violent means. My dad was a cop, and when he confronted her grandfather, they both died at the hands of one another." 

Adrian shuddered. "That's horrible, I'm so sorry." 

Karen gave a sniff but then shook her head. "It's okay; it’s nearly ancient history by now." 

"But I am a little confused; what does any of that have to do with Lori? Certainly if you were only nine years old, then she must have been what? Seven or eight years old? How old is everyone anyway?" The last bit was more of a murmur as Adrian realized he didn't really know what class level everyone belonged to. 

"Foggy, Matt, and I are all juniors. Lori is in your grade, a sophomore. I don't blame Lori for what happened, but the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. Also, you see what she does and how she dresses; it's disgusting and unbecoming. I'm not going to kiss her little ass and fawn over her or be scared of her because of who she is and what her family has or does." 

Karen's general friendly attitude dissolved into anger and hatred, and Adrian knew he was seeing the only way Karen felt she could get revenge for the death of her father, regardless of the fact that she was being extremely unfair towards a girl who had nothing to do with the source of her anger. 

Before Adrian could think too much more about the situation, he found that they were rounding a corner and going into the cafeteria. He nearly held his breath as a way to steel himself for what was going to come. 

"Karen! Adrian! What took you so long?!" Foggy called out. 

Adrian noticed that along with Foggy and Matt, Lucas was also sitting at the table and he almost turned to bolt out of the room. 

Matt felt the quickening heartbeat among the many that were wandering around in the cafeteria and guessed that it was Adrian. He really needed to see if he could help Adrian calm down before the kid keeled over; constantly being sent into states of heightened anxiety couldn't be good for him. 

"Hey," Lucas gave Adrian a lopsided grin before settling into a more neutral but sincere smile. "Feeling a bit better after yesterday, I hope?" 

The question meant to be in reference to what had happened in the afternoon after school and Adrian knew it, and he couldn't help but to admire Lucas a little for asking the question in such a way that the rest of the group could interpret it for the incident he had after their biology class. 

"Yes, I am feeling better, thank you," Adrian said, sliding into a chair gracefully. "I probably owe you all an apology, I was kind of rotten to you guys all the while you were trying to help me. I'm sorry I didn't respond very well." 

"Don't worry about it, Adrian," Matt said. "We know you were probably just overwhelmed; anyone would have had the same reaction." 

"Still, for whatever it is worth to you all, I really am sorry," Adrian said. 

"I think you owe us cookies," Foggy said. 

"Cookies?" Adrian repeated. 

"It will be payment for damages." 

"Damages?" 

Matt laughed. "Objection; the plaintiff was under duress." 

"I object to your objection!" 

"Overruled." 

"You can't overrule me, you're a counselor, too." 

"Who is the judge, then?" 

"I am," Lucas said. "And I say the objection is sub stained by the following orders of habeus conformus, uh, perperendiculous." 

"Amato, really?" Foggy said incredulously. "You make it sound like you have never watched a movie with a court case in it." 

Lucas shrugged. "Not a movie guy, Nelson. Sorry." 

Adrian glanced over at Karen, who was smiling as she glanced between the boys as they spoke. She caught Adrian’s eye and gave him a wink. He smiled back at her and slowly stood and walked away quietly while Matt, Lucas, and Foggy threw legal terms at one another. 

It was about a solid five minutes later that Lucas looked over and noticed that Adrian had disappeared. 

“Where did he go?” Lucas murmured curiously. 

“His lunch, well, what he calls a lunch,” Foggy said, looking at the small Tupperware box with a mix of disbelief and borderline disdain, “is still here. Maybe he went to go get some real food.” 

“If you can call what this cafeteria comes up with as real food,” Karen said. “Then again, Foggy, you have yet to convince me you didn’t burn off all of your taste buds two years ago when Matt tricked you into eating that habanero pepper stuffed with schiracha sauce.” 

“That was damn tasty stuff,” Foggy said. 

“Uh huh,” Matt said, leaning his head in Foggy’s direction. “I will never allow you to eat chili sauce or peppers ever again, not while we’re sharing a bathroom.” 

Foggy opened his mouth for a retort, but two warm chocolate chip cookies were dropped under his nose. 

“Hey, cool, where did this come from?” Foggy asked. 

Adrian smiled as he set more cookies out for the other two boys and gave a couple to Karen. 

“You said I owed you cookies and I believe I have delivered, counselor,” Adrian said softly with a smile. 

“Case dismissed!” Foggy said, biting into a cookie. “You are awesome.” 

“I had nothing to do with anything,” Karen said, though not necessarily pushing away the cookies. 

“I can’t get cookies for them and not you,” Adrian said with a small laugh. “Think of it as payment for the story you told me earlier. Hopefully chocolate and time will heal all wounds.” 

Karen smiled gratefully at him and nodded her thanks. 

“They’re warm,” Matt said after taking a bite. “How did you accomplish that?” 

“I asked the cafeteria lady,” Adrian explained, opening his lunch. “I explained that I needed to repay the kindness of my brand new friends.” 

“Really? Was that all?” Lucas asked. He had already finished the first cookie. 

“She did ask me why I was buying nine cookies,” Adrian explained, taking a spoonful of rice. “She said something about the fact that while I could stand to gain a few pounds, doing it via baked goods wasn’t necessarily healthy.” 

“Lies and slander,” Foggy said. 

Adrian smiled. “She added that she was required by state law to say so, being a food provider for children, but despite that, she wasn’t our mother so she could only dictate so much.” 

“She said all of that?” Karen asked, picking pieces off of her cookies to eat. 

“That was almost verbatim,” Adrian said with a nod, taking another bite of his lunch. 

“Sounds like something Sylvia would say,” Matt said. “She didn’t retire yet?” 

“Retire? Hell, Matt, she will probably outlive us all,” Foggy said, tearing into the second cookie. 

They all started chatting about the different staff members at the school, Adrian listening just like yesterday as he slowly ate through his lunch and the cookie. He glanced over at Lucas as he laughed at something that Matt had said and Adrian couldn’t help a small bit of laughter himself. Lucas looked over at him with a smile and Adrian shook his head at him a little. Lucas tilted his head with a questioning look. Adrian continued to smile at him, his eyes trained on the small bit of chocolate that was on the corner of his mouth. He wanted to lean forward and lick it off- 

Adrian shook himself suddenly; where in the world did that thought come from?! 

“What is it?” Lucas asked. 

Adrian pointed at the corner of his own mouth with a finger. The other three looked over, taking an interest in Adrian and Lucas’ exchange. 

“He might need some help, Adrian,” Foggy said sweetly. He leaned over and whispered loudly. “Lucas is a little slow, bless his dear heart.” 

Lucas wrinkled his nose, brushed the back of his hand across his mouth to wipe away the traces of chocolate, crumpled up the napkin the cookies were laying on and throwing it at Foggy’s head, making him duck as he giggled and sending the others into more peals of laughter. Adrian was smiling, blushing a little at his own embarrassing thoughts that had passed through momentarily as he finished taking he last bite of his lunch. 

"I hope you all will excuse me," Adrian said as he stood. "My literature teacher gave me a pretty hefty assignment for last night and I want to be sure it gets handed in properly." 

"Already? Are you in an AP class or something?" Foggy asked. 

Adrian blinked at him. "AP? What is that?" 

"Advanced Placement, like honors classes. They are meant for students who excel in certain subjects, sometime you can even get college credits for them," Karen explained. 

"Oh?" Adrian's face visibly brightened. 

"You never knew about them?" Karen asked. 

"He was home schooled, remember?" Lucas offered. 

"Oh, yeah, right." 

"How does one go about being placed in one of these classes?" Adrian pressed. 

"Hmm, I think they usually do the testing for those classes the year before or over the summer," Karen said and then frowned when Adrian's face fell a little in disappointment. "I'm sorry, Adrian." 

"I'm sure you could ask the principal," Matt pointed out. 

Adrian chewed his lower lip thoughtfully; he wondered if maybe he could have the pleasure of ripping apart the five thousand word essay. But he figured that would be a bad idea in case his current teacher also happened to be the advanced class' teacher. 

"Maybe I should go see if I can talk to the principal now," Adrian murmured. 

"Oh, oh! Let me go with you!" Foggy offered, jumping up from his seat and nearly lunging across the table. 

"Why?" Adrian asked slowly and nervously. 

"I can defend you if he refuses! It will be great practice!" 

"Oh, God, no, don't let him defend you, Adrian," Lucas said. 

"Oh, please, don't tell me you're still holding baggage from that lamp incident," Foggy said with a groan. 

"Lamp incident?" Adrian asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"All you really need to know about the lamp incident was that it started with Lucas accidentally trashing something from the drama club's play setup and it ended with him and Foggy with three days' worth of detention," Matt said. 

"And that was how Foggy and Lucas met," Karen said. 

"It couldn't have been that bad of a first impression, he is still talking to me after all," Foggy said, flashing Lucas a grin. 

"Against the advice of my lawyer," Lucas muttered. 

Foggy blinked. "Wait, who's your lawyer?" 

"Matt, of course." 

Foggy gasped in horror. " _Et tu_ , Matthew? How could you?" 

"I'm sorry, man, I made the better lawyer." 

Foggy scoffed, folding his arms with a scowl. "It's not fair, using your good looks to get your way." 

"Trust me, looks had little to do with it," Lucas said with a grin. 

Adrian had been watching the exchange with amusement before he glanced at the clock. 

"Well, let me see how far I can get with this before next class," Adrian murmured to Karen. 

"Yeah, and you better go before either of these morons course out what you're doing," she said. "Run, Adrian, run free!" 

Adrian chuckled quietly, gave her a small wave, and moved away discreetly. He almost broke out into a run for the main office the moment he crossed the threshold of the cafeteria. 

"- and furthermore, counselor... Hey, where did Adrian go?" Foggy asked, glancing around after he, Lucas, and Matt had been bantering for a least five minutes. 

"He went to talk to the principal," Karen said matter-of-factly. 

"Without us?" Foggy said with a sniff. "Isn't there some sort of saying about defending yourself and being a fool for it?" 

"You're always a fool, Foggy," Karen said. 

"Quiet, you."


	6. Barbara and History Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian meets Barbara in the main office and school life just might be looking up.  
> Meanwhile in Matt and Foggy's history class, they have a very interesting conversation.

Adrian approached the main office with some trepidation; when he was there yesterday, not only did he meet with a very flustered principal, but the secretaries seemed to be quite stand-offish and impatient. Today, things seemed to be a little better; the office was a little quieter but the secretary’s still looked a little tense. 

"Uhm, excuse me," Adrian murmured as he came through the door. 

"Weren't you here yesterday?" asked the secretary closest to the front, peering over her brown and gold glasses at him. 

"Yes, Miss, I was told I needed to see the principal about advanced placement classes? Is this true?" Adrian asked politely. 

"No," she said flatly. 

"Oh," Adrian said, disappointment evident in his voice. 

The secretary gave him a small smile; not the kind like she was resisting smiling, just one of someone who didn't smile too much in their day to day life. 

"Well you could talk to the principal; however, perhaps I can be of assistance. Come over here and have a seat, dear." 

"Oh! Thank you," Adrian said gratefully, coming around the corner of the counter and sitting in the chair next to the secretary's desk so he was facing her. 

"Spell your last name for me," she requested. 

"Seidelman; S, E, I, D-" 

"Ah, Adrian?" 

"Yes, Miss." 

"So polite," she murmured as her fingers flew over the keyboard. "So you really are brand new. You have been home schooled this entire time?" 

"Yes, Miss." 

"Drop the 'Miss' and call me Barbara," she said, glancing back at the computer. "What AP course were you looking to join?" 

"For literature, please." 

Barbara chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. "Usually you would test for advanced placement classes before school starts or be invited in for testing based on your grades from the previous year, but it looks like your family registered you fairly late." 

Adrian shifted uncomfortably in the chair. "Uhm, well, you see Mi- I mean, Barbara, uhm," he stammered before lowering his head and looking away. "My father passed away somewhat recently, and I never knew my mother." 

Barbara gasped. "Oh, you poor dear! I am so sorry!" 

"It's okay, really, it was sort of coming. H was very ill." 

"It still doesn't hurt any less, honey," she reached over and pat his hand. "Please remember that we're here for you if you ever need someone to talk to." 

"I appreciate that, thank you," Adrian said with a sad smile. 

"Anyway, I am certain we can talk to Mr. Ferguson about your situation and see if there is something that can be done. What class do you have next period?" 

"Literature," Adrian squirmed a little in the chair. "I have Mr. Spans, already he gave me an assignment be used I asked about the reading list." 

"What was wrong with the reading list?" 

"Well, nothing, really, it was just that I had read about half of the books on the list. I asked him if there was anything different I could do during those assignments to maybe give me a challenge or something, because that's what being in school is about, right? Challenging ourselves?" 

Barbara blinked at this young man. While there were other students that she knew felt the same way, there did seem to be a different inner wisdom from this one. 

"And what was your teacher's response?" she asked. 

"He gave me an assignment of writing a five thousand word essay on presumptions and why they're dangerous." 

"That teacher is an asshole," she murmured. Adrian covered his smile with his hand and she shook her head. "Forgive me; I didn't say that out loud." 

"Say what?" Adrian said with a smile and an innocent tilt of his head. 

"Exactly. I like you. I will speak to the head of the department and see if you can take an AP test. I will inform your home room teacher when I get an answer. If it takes a day or two, it will take a day or two." 

"What do I do in the meantime? Should I still go to my regular class?" 

"I wouldn't ask you to waste your time like that unless it was absolutely necessary. While you wait, you will be sitting in that class listening to a bunch of nonsense that you don't need. No, you are better off spending your time at the library. Do your homework from other classes, take advantage of the resources, the librarian may even have the reading list for the advanced classes." 

"What about my current class? Won't I be in trouble if I just stop showing up?" 

"I will cover you for now, if anyone has a problem with you being in the library during this period and they say anything to you, you tell then to come to me. Do you understand, Mr. Seidelman?" 

Adrian nodded. "Yes, ma'am." 

"There you go again, being all polite and such," Barbara said with a huff. "Now go on and get down to the library, I have some work to do." 

"I understand, thank you so much, Barbara," Adrian said as he stood. 

She waved a hand dismissively. "Don't thank me yet, I haven't done anything. By the way, there is a paper shredder behind me if you just so happen to need it." 

She was looking at Adrian with a hint of a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. 

"I'm probably not going to set foot in that classroom again, am I?" Adrian asked in a very quiet tone. 

"Not if I can help it," Barbara replied. 

With a small smile of satisfaction, Adrian lifted the handful of paper, walked over to the shredder and watched as the blades ripped the paper apart. 

Barbara nodded, only watching the whole thing out of the corner of one eye. 

"It takes something special to do that you know," she said softly. "Not every student would so nonchalantly shred up five thousand words worth of work in mere seconds, simply because they know the assignment isn't going to amount to anything in the end." 

"Oh? What would you have done?" 

She shrugged. "Probably keep it around for a little bit, then eventually throw it away." 

Adrian shrugged. "It was nothing but a bundle of bad energy to me. Thank you, again." 

She gave him a nod and he walked out of the office with a bit more of a bounce in his step. Yesterday may have been a rough beginning, but things were turning around. 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * 

Matt and Foggy never had too many classes together; they often would joke how it was a conspiracy to keep them apart because they were going to be big shots one day and everyone knew it. 

"Jealousy!" Foggy would proclaim loudly. "It will be the downfall of us all!" 

"As will you falling on your audience, now get down," Matt would inevitably tell him, trying to sound stern but smiling and laughing during the whole conversation. 

One of the classes they did share that year was history class. The teacher shifted uneasily when she saw that she had the infamous duo in her class, and what was more, they sat next to each other, but they promised her with beaming faces and smiles that they would behave themselves and Foggy would help Matt take his notes. 

"He also promises to not change history," Matt said, nudging Foggy in the shoulder. 

"You mix Theodore Roosevelt up with Franklin Roosevelt one time," Foggy sighed, making the students laugh. 

"Let's hope your world history fares better than your American history, Mr. Nelson," the teacher said with a sigh before moving on to start the class. 

"How _is_ your knowledge of world civilization?" Foggy asked in a low whisper that only Matt could hear. 

"Pretty well I think. I expect the class to be slightly challenging, as most of my world history revolves around Europe, and if I’m not mistaken, we’re starting in Mesopotamia.” 

“Meso-po-what now?” 

“I’ll tell you later.” 

Foggy was quiet for a moment, but Matt could tell that his companion had more to say. 

"Can we try to talk?” 

"I think try will be the operative word. What's on your mind?" 

"Does Adrian have a crush on Lucas?" 

Matt held back a snicker. "Why?" 

"Because I feel like meddling. I'm willing to bet Lucas likes Adrian a little more than a friend and I want to push them along. Besides, I've seen Adrian flustered and if you could see how funny he looks? You'd totally be on my side." 

Matt nodded slowly, mostly to not draw any attention to their conversation, especially when the tone of the teacher's voice indicated that she was speaking, and therefore looking, in their direction. 

"So was that a yes in that Adrian has a crush or something on Lucas or something else?" Foggy asked with a trace of excitement in his voice. 

Matt laughed quietly again. "Keeping you on your toes is as fun for me as making Adrian flustered will be for you," he said with a smirk. 

"Murdock," Foggy said in a warning tone. 

"Adrian's heart does start beating faster when Lucas is around," Matt confirmed with a small nod. "But that could also be nerves." 

"Why do you say that? Does he panic when he's around us for example?" 

"A little," Matt said with another slight nod before a slow, evil smile spread across his lips. "But then again, you have said that I'm a good looking guy, so he may have a crush on me, too." 

Matt could hear a stutter in Foggy’s heartbeat. Matt shook his head, the smile melting into a sincere, smaller smile as he reached over and put his hand over Foggy’s. 

"Calm down, Fog, he's not going to take me away from you," Matt said. Foggy just frowned, but he relaxed. Matt pat his hand gently. "Anyway, while I'm not sure what Lucas' feelings towards Adrian is, his interest is most definitely piqued." 

"Huh, I had no idea he swung that way." 

"He may not. We'll see what happens. I suggest that you do not meddle too much." 

"You're no fun." 

"That's not what you said last night." 

"Matt!" 

"Gentleman," the teacher's voice rang out loud and clear. 

"Sorry," both Matt and Foggy chorused.


	7. Apologies and Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian still wants to apologize to Lucas for being a jerk yesterday.  
> Matt and Adrian have plans for the night.

Lucas watched Adrian carefully during biology class. Von Reichter had written notes up on the board and insisted that everyone write them as he lectured. Every now and then he would slap the tip of his riding crop on the table of any pair of students that didn't seem to be paying attention or writing the notes quickly enough. Lucas had the feeling that Adrian wasn't used to such harsh treatment from a teacher and that he must be really sensitive. Lucas always did have a protective streak, and while sometimes he was put in situations where he should be sorry for it, he was still willing to protect others at any and all costs. 

Lucas took a moment to scribble on the side of his notebook and turned it a bit so he could continue to take notes but Adrian could read it. He waited until Von Reichter wasn't looking in their direction and he nudged his elbow into Adrian's, thankful that they were only inches away to begin with. 

Adrian glanced over and Lucas pointed at the note. 

_Are you okay?_ the note read. 

Adrian glanced up to find Lucas was watching him out of the corner of his eye. Adrian made a slow nod, hiding it in a glance up at the board for notes, before training his eyes completely back on their task. 

Lucas' brows knit, unsure whether or not to believe Adrian. 

_Am I following you after class again to make sure you don't pass out?_ Lucas wrote, then he leaned over and pushed the notebook closer to Adrian. 

Adrian leaned away from Lucas at first, but relaxed when he realized he was just trying to show him another note. Adrian was a little annoyed; he didn't want either of them getting in trouble, but he looked anyway. 

_'He can't just leave it alone?'_ Adrian thought to himself, but he knew that Lucas wouldn't. In the short time he knew the other teen he had come to the conclusion that he was stubborn and willful and was determined to get what he wanted. 

Adrian considered the question; he still didn't know what it was about this teacher that made him react the way that he did yesterday, but whatever it was, it was repeating. His heart had been in his throat for the whole class and his stomach churned uncomfortably. There was also the incident the two of them had yesterday after the bullies; Adrian meant to apologize, but Lucas didn't bring it up. Yet. Regardless, Adrian felt he needed to cut Lucas a little bit of slack. The other teen had earned it. 

When it became suitable, he locked eyes with Lucas - his heart skipping a few beats when he realized that Lucas had been not quite openly but intently staring at him, waiting for his answer. 

The answer took the form of a slow nod and a small smile. Adrian's heart fluttered in an odd way when relief flooded Lucas's face and he all but grinned back for a split second before they turned back to their note taking, keeping Von Reichter from catching them. 

When the bell rang, Adrian moved quicker than Lucas anticipated, so much so that Adrian was out the door before Lucas had shoved his notebook in his bag. He wanted to shout after him, but he noticed that Von Reichter was watching the doorway and then turned his glare to Lucas, but he said nothing. Lucas shouldered his bag calmly and walked out of the room at a normal pace. 

"Lucas," Adrian said softly. 

Lucas turned to find Adrian leaning against the wall a few feet from the door. He looked calm, but Lucas could see one of Adrian’s notebooks crumpling a little under his clutching fingers. 

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked. 

"Yes, thank you," Adrian said, visibly relaxing a little. 

"So, erm," Lucas scratched the back of his head, realizing that making everything look normal was vital; Adrian apparently didn't like too much attention. "You need help getting to your next class?" 

"Yes, please, it's only my second day and I am still very turned around," Adrian replied with a smile, and while they were acting the situation, that smile was sincere. 

"No worries, come on," Lucas jerked his thumb down the hall and they began to walk. 

"Listen, Lucas, about yesterday?" Adrian ventured after a few moments of dodging students in the hall. 

"Yeah?" 

"When those bullies cornered me in the alley? I should have thanked you for caring enough to come after me and instead I yelled at you. I apologize for that." 

Lucas smiled, a pleasantly warm and fuzzy feeling filling him. He clapped Adrian on the shoulder. 

"Hey, you had a pretty shitty first day," Lucas said. "I was a little shocked since you seem to be really quiet and not the type to yell at people." 

"How does the saying go? Looks can be deceiving." 

"Yeah, no joke." 

"I really am sorry." 

"Don't worry about it, really," he glanced around at their surroundings and realized they were walking somewhat aimlessly. "Hey, what is your next class? Don’t want to lead you in the completely wrong direction," 

"Oh, my Latin class is next. I remember that it's by the cafeteria. I’m certain that can find my way there; I don't want to make you late for your class, either." 

"I'll be all right, I promise." 

A turn and a hallway later, they were curving around the cafeteria and Adrian found himself in familiar territory again. 

"I trust you can read the classroom numbers without a problem?" Lucas said with a teasing smirk. 

"Of course," Adrian said, not quite meeting Lucas' eye. "Thank you for walking with me." 

"No problem, any time, as long as you're sure you are all right?" 

"Yes, thank you." 

They stood awkwardly in the hall for a moment. 

"Either kiss him goodnight or move on, geez," a female student said hotly as she squeezed past them. 

Adrian felt his face heat up, but couldn't help a small laugh when he saw that Lucas' ears turned red. He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. 

"I'll catch you later, Adrian." 

"Sure thing, Lucas." 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * 

Matt stood in the science hall, gripping his cane in his hands and concentrating on figuring out what was going on in the one room where there were still heartbeats. Von Reichter was inside and he was pacing in front of his desk. Matt knew there was someone else in the room, sitting in the front row of tables in the center row. 

Matt was willing to bet that it was José; he knew it was someone about the same age as a traditional freshman. He was fidgeting ever so slightly in his seat, and while he seemed to hold some slight reverence for Von Reichter, there was some contempt there as well. 

"I need you to keep a better eye out, José," Von Reichter grumbled, finally stopping his pacing. Matt figured he was standing in front of José. 

"Yes, father," José said respectfully, at least to a normal human ear it was respectful - Matt also detected a hint of resentment. 

"Your search has yielded no results anywhere else, so I expect that you will have better luck here," Von Reichter said. "Unless, of course, you have been flitting your time away on nonsense." 

A small hint of fear and nervousness made Jose's heart beat a little faster. 

"Surely, I do not quite understand what you mean, Father," José said plaintively. 

A loud crack indicated that Von Reichter had used his riding crop to smack the table, possibly inches from José judging by the sudden spike in his heart beat. 

"I am not in the mood for your smart-ass remarks or your pitiful excuses!" Von Reichter hissed. "You are to take the Techno’s with you this time; delegate responsibilities, and find that last Cyber." 

"Yes, father," José said, sounding more dejected than anything else. 

'What in the world is a Techno?' Matt wondered. 

"I mean it this time, José, no mistakes and no failures." 

"Yes, father." 

"Now get out of my sight, I have work to do," Von Reichter muttered and Matt could hear the haughty footsteps as he returned to his desk. He could hear and feel the scrape of the chair as José pushed it back to stand. 

Matt moved away from the door, a few quick and quiet steps around the corner where he set down his cane and started feeling around like a normal blind person would. He heard the biology room door open and the sharp steps of José as he came down the hall in his direction. 

_'Someone's a little angry,'_ Matt thought with amusement, as he could feel the anger building in José as he neared. 

"Out of my way," José grumbled, shoving Matt's shoulder as he passed him. 

Matt said nothing as he went with the push and mock-stumbled into the wall. He could hear José give a cruel scoff of laughter under his breath as he continued on his way. 

_'Good thing Foggy isn't here,'_ Matt thought with an amused air as he straightened himself. _'He would have kicked your sorry ass.'_

Matt turned and went back down the hall and around the corner to the biology room. He couldn't help frowning as he approached; something was wrong, possibly very, very wrong. 

There was no heartbeat from inside the room. 

Matt sped up his steps and frantically felt for the door handle. When he finally found it after twenty stomach-churning seconds, he pushed open the door and nearly stumbled into the room. He tried to calm his frantic heartbeat as he felt around the room. Even if Von Reichter's heart had stopped beating, there should still have been a heat signature in the room. 

But there was nothing. The room was empty and there was little to no trace to where Von Reichter could have gone to. Matt was certain he only heard José leaving the room. After a few more moments of glancing around, reaching out to feel for something that would clue him into where Von Reichter could have disappeared to, but there was nothing. 

"Looks like I have something to do this evening," Matt murmured. 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * 

Adrian paced in his room. The sun was setting, street lamps were lighting, and he was nervous. There was a small pile of black and red clothing on his bed and a wide brimmed hat sitting on his pillow. He crossed his arms, biting a thumb as he considered the dark fabric before resuming his pacing. 

"That teacher," he muttered. "Something is going on with that teacher; something unnatural and unsettling." 

Adrian stopped his pacing and went to the picture. He brushed his finger over the face with a sad sigh, his eyes filled with hurt and anguish. 

"I can't help but feel he had something to do with you, papi," Adrian murmured. "He has something to do with the people who murdered you. I can feel it." 

Adrian looked back at the clothes and clenched a fist in resolve before moving to take off his school uniform. 

Ten minutes later, a young lady dressed in black from head to toe stood before the old, cracked, full length mirror that hung in the closet door. The boots had a slight heel to them, the long cape that swept the floor had a red lining as did the high collar that rose up the back of her neck, and a pair of black gloves was in her hands. The glasses were off, sitting on the poor excuse for a desk, but she didn't need them as she looked down at the gloves with a thoughtful expression. While the gloves would help to improve her grip when she needed, she wanted to keep her fingers free for fine work if she needed to search through something or pick delicately through, well, whatever she could come across. She knew it could be anything, really, and she figured the best way to adequately prepare was to over prepare. 

She gripped the gloves tighter in resolve before going to her desk and grabbing a pair of scissors. Soon ten leather pieces littered the trash can and she pulled on the now fingerless gloves. She smiled with satisfaction, pleased with the results, and grabbed the hat off of the bed. She stood in front of the mirror again and tried to put her hat on, but her hair wouldn't let it sit properly. She frowned before running her hand through her hair so that it fell forward instead. Satisfied with the result, she put the hat on and was pleased at the effect. She turned to her window and leapt out of it, relishing in the breeze as she plummeted downwards, landing on the roof of another building before launching back up into the air. 

It had been a long time since she used her abilities to travel like this; she didn't take joy in too many things, and if she thought about it long enough, she would find that besides poetry, her acrobatics as she traveled just above the city was the only other time that she was unburdened by her usual worries. 

This joy, however, would be stilled as she approached her target - the Villa Devato Academy.


End file.
